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Toronto-area employers plan to hire more staff, not so across rest of provinceNew year means jobsJob seekers in Toronto face brighter prospects in the New Year than the final months of 2006, according to a new Manpower forecast. MARYANNA LEWYCKYJ |
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 [ 2006-12-14 ] |
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Job seekers in Toronto face brighter prospects in the New Year than the final months of 2006, according to a new Manpower forecast.
But the outlook is gloomier across Ontario, with more employers planning cutbacks than hiring sprees in early 2007.
Manpower survey figures released yesterday show 18% of Toronto-area employers polled plan to hire for the upcoming quarter (January to March), while 8% plan cuts, 72% expect to maintain staffing levels and 2% are unsure of their hiring intentions.
The results translate into a net hiring outlook of 10%, up from 7% in the previous three months.
However, employers across Ontario are more pessimistic, with 14% planning to add staff in the upcoming quarter and 16% planning cuts for a net hiring outlook of minus 2%.
That represents a big downturn from the previous quarter, when the hiring outlook was 15%.
Below average
Ontario has posted below-average job growth this year, with the unemployment rate hitting 6.4% in November.
A key factor has been the loss of 63,000 manufacturing jobs in the first 11 months of this year.
The Manpower outlook for the manufacturing sector remains gloomy for early 2007, with a net hiring outlook of minus 10% for durables and minus 1% for non-durables.
That's similar to the first quarter of 2006, where the outlook was minus 12% for durables and minus 1% for non-durables.
Ontario employers are most optimistic about hiring in the public administration sector (net outlook 15%), followed by finance, insurance and real estate (14%) and services (11%).
The most pessimistic Ontario forecasts are in construction (minus 38%), wholesale and retail trade (minus 17%) and durable manufacturing (minus 10%).
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